HAITI DISASTER RESPONSE

Operation USA

Overview As of March 2010

JANUARY 12, 2010 A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits the island nation of Haiti, with an epicenter less than 20 miles of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The devastation in Port-au-Prince, and many areas beyond, has been without precedent.

as many as 3 million people are affected 1 million left homeless

300,000 injured over 220,000 killed

Before the quake, estimates were that as much as 50% of Haiti’s population lived on less than $1 a day. Temporary shelters are now housing the hundreds of thousands who have been left homeless in Port-au-Prince. As the hurricane season approaches, shelter and sanitation are at the forefront of concerns.

Operation USA responded rapidly to the disaster, shipping emergency aid within days of the earthquake. Over $5.5 million in donated medical, energy, food and shelter supplies have been sent to Haiti to date. With generous corporate and foundation support from Honeywell Hometown Solutions, United Airlines, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc., Ball Corporation, The Lincy Foundation and many others, the agency has sent eight air shipments and four sea containers of relief supplies to Haiti in the past eight weeks, getting essential pharmaceuticals, medical, emergency and shelter supplies, generators and light towers, as well as medical personnel to partner agencies on the ground in Port-au-Prince, as well as the equally hard-hit city of Jacmel. Local and operational partners in Haiti include L’Athletique d’Haiti, St. Damien’s Pediatric Hospital/St. Luke’s Schools, Partners in Health, International Medical Corps, Project Medishare/University of Miami, The City of Jacmel and the orphanage Hands and Feet Project (Jacmel).

Notes from the field...

“I have seen people living in conditions that shouldn’t be possible… But I remain buoyed by the strength of the Haitian people. Their desire to create some decency for themselves in the midst of such hideous degradation is truly remarkable and humbling. Its everywhere—little girls walking thru sewage in pretty pink dresses, holding hands and somehow managing to smile at the stranger staring at them from a car window. Flower pots in front of ripped and muddied tents. A little boy feeding his even tinier sister from the same miserably meager bowl of rice... Heartbreaking, and shameful that this is any child's—any person’s—reality. It just shouldn't be possible.” Susan Fassig Director, Programs Port-au-Prince, February 2010

RECOVERY PROJECTS A Focus on Jacmel

While the world's attention focused on the extensive damage done in Port-au-Prince, a catastrophe of parallel magnitude has unfolded in on Haiti’s southern coast in the city of Jacmel. As many as 70% of Jacmel’s homes were damaged or destroyed. Operation USA will focus a good portion of its relief and recovery efforts in Jacmel—knowing it can make a significant impact in this smaller and somewhat overlooked community. The first project to be confirmed is the rebuilding of the public school, Ecole National Jacob Martin Henriquez.

Operation USA is partnering with Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the philanthropic arm of Honeywell Corporation, to reconstruct this primary school that will serve over 400 students who couldn’t otherwise afford to go to school. This project will be built in partnership with the City of Jacmel, with the support of its exceptional Mayor, Edwin Zenny—a nationally known anti-corruption figure and committed activist for Jacmel’s future.

RECOVERY PROJECTS

LOCAL PARTNER: L’Athletique d’Haiti

Operation USA began working with the Port-au-Prince based NGO LʼAthletique dʼHaiti following the hurricanes that hit the Caribbean in the fall of 2008. Run by 2007 “CNN Hero” Boby Duval, LADH was an after-school sports program that served children from ages 6 to 17 in Cité Soleil and Bel Air, the poorest slums in Port-au-Prince. With foundation and music industry support (Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder, Joan Baez and Ben Harper) following the hurricanes of 2008, OpUSA had built a children’s feeding center at LADH, which included a kitchen and cafeteria for 450. Those structures survived the earthquake and are now the core of a much larger emergency program, feeding—and providing shelter—for over 500 families that are now living on the LADH soccer fields. As the first phase of long-term support, a series of grants for emergency food have been sent, alongside generators and shelter materials. OpUSA is working with LADH to develop a youth job program, to both build hope and create income generating activities.

RECOVERY PROJECTS

LOCAL PARTNER: St. Damien’s Pediatric Hospital/St. Luke’s Schools


St. Damien is the only free pediatric hospital in Haiti. Run by Father Rick Frechette, an American doctor and community organizer who'd been working in the slums of Port-au-Prince for over two decades, he and his small team have also built an orphanage, medical clinics, and St. Luke’s, a network of neighborhood schools. OpUSA has partnered with LA-based Artists for Peace & Justice to support Father Rick’s lifesaving work. Initial response includes the purchase of $140,000 worth of food and cooking utensils. Future projects will include help to rebuild neighborhood schools of varying sizes depending on population resettlement.

RECOVERY PROJECTS

Operation USA is committed to the long-term recovery process in Haiti. While this list will certainly grow, at this time additional financial support and/or material aid has been pledged for the following:

• Hands and Feet orphanage in Jacmel

• Material aid needs for a health clinic in Petit-Goave

• Children of Hope Orphanage and Hospice, which provides care to children with special needs in Thomozeau

• The City of Jacmel (in conjunction with, or on site at Ecole

National Jacob Martin Henriquez): water and sanitation project; feeding program; and educational scholarships

Learn more at www.opusa.org